Field
The present disclosure relates to conveying devices, and more specifically to conveying devices having a modular, alternate side drive system.
Related Art
Related art conveying apparatuses, such as roller brush beds, are often used to transport produce through packing and sorting houses so that a variety of cleaning and sanitizing processes may be applied to the produce. An example related art drive system 105 for an example conveying apparatus 100 (e.g., roller brush bed) is illustrated in FIG. 1. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the related art drive system 105 is located with a housing 110 to protect the drive system from the elements, because the example conveying apparatus 100 is often placed in a moist environment open to the elements in many packing houses. Within the housing 110, the drive system 105 includes a motor 115 coupled to a series of roller brush shafts 145 by a transmission 130. The motor 115 is often an electric motor, but can also be a fuel powered motor (e.g., a gasoline motor). In some configurations of the related art, the motor 115 is located outside of the housing and the transmission 130 passes through the housing 110.
The transmission 130 includes a motor sprocket 135 that couples the motor 115 to motor drive chain 120. Torque from the motor 115 is transmitted to the motor drive chain 120 by the motor sprocket 135. The motor drive chain 120 is wrapped around a downstream sprocket 150.
The downstream sprocket 150 is mounted on shaft, and is configured to rotate with, a shaft 160 located below the motor. A second sprocket 155 (located behind the downstream sprocket 150 in FIG. 1) is also mounted on the shaft 160 and is coaxially aligned with the downstream sprocket 150. The second sprocket 155 is also configured to rotate with the shaft 160. Thus, the torque transmitted to the downstream sprocket 150 by the motor drive chain 120 is transmitted to the sprocket 155 by the shaft 160.
A roller brush drive chain 125 is wrapped around the second sprocket 155. The roller brush drive chain 125 is also wrapped around a pair of support sprockets 140 and roller brush drive sprockets 165. Torque received by the sprocket 155 is transmitted to the roller brush drive sprockets 165 by the roller brush drive chain 125. Each of the roller brush drive sprockets 165 is mounted on one of the roller brush shafts 145 and transmits the torque received from the roller brush drive chain 125 to the roller brush shaft 145.
Related art drive systems such as the drive system 105 illustrated in FIG. 1 may suffer from several problems including chain slippage, lubrication contamination, and excessive noise due to the number of rotating components. Further, the drive system 105 may also suffer from frequent break downs to chain breakage and sprocket slippage, resulting in frequent downtime and lost usability of the conveying apparatus. Additionally, the arrangement of the related art drive systems also make it difficult to perform maintenance without completely disassembling the drive because individual sprockets cannot be removed or replaced without removing the chain and other sprockets. Further, related art drive systems may also be difficult to customize to different work environments due to a requirement to manufacture chain lengths to the specific work environment.